Creative Video: Contents of the IDD

Very creative video tutorial on how to create an instructional design document…

Instructional Design Document

HOW Magazine Article on Instructional Designers, “Learning by Design”

Things have been pretty busy with the grad program and the current Info Mapping content development project. All things progressing with me….hoping the same for everyone else.

So, how excited was I a few weeks ago when I received my December 2008 issue of HOW magazine. There is an excellent article by Michelle Taute titled, “Learning by Design.” The lovely article is all about how instructional design is not only a part of the educational world, but the design industry as well.

There are so many juicy parts. I’ll just extract a few.

“From the classroom to the boardroom, instructional designers create training materials for all kinds of learners, bridging the gap between teacher and students. Here, we explore this little-known facet of the design industry.” (p 96)

“Almost everything I build is designed to be repurposed…I create the framework, then the professors provide the content — whether that’s multiple-choice questions, video clips of them demonstrating something or creative writing samples.” (p 96) Daniel Stanford, DePaul University Instructional Design Consultant

All the reason why I work on my new media design skill.

***Resources relevant to this article***

http://www.danielstanford.com/

http://www.scadelearning.org/

http://www.ecollege.com/index.learn

Person Daniel Stanford,

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De Anna L Fench
eduTech gEEk writer

Multimodality in Education

1. Monomodality: use of one mode to create a message
2. Multimodality: use of multiple modes to create a multisensory message

Multimodal Instruction

There is a need in education for the design and development of multimedia-based instruction that stimulates a variety of learning styles: tactile, auditory, visual, etc.

“Not only the mass media, the pages of magazines and comic strips for example, but also the documents produced by corporations, universities, government departments, etc., have acquired colour illustrations and sophisticated layout and typography.” (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2001, p 1)

Traditionally, instructional design involved the design of curricula (at both the program and course level), which included the development of new course materials or the accumulation of preexisting ones. These materials were monomodal: textual documents, individual audio components, traditional textbooks with non-engaging layout.

Multimodal considerations such as typography have not been a concern in instructional design until the recent inclusion of multimedia to enhance learning. Today, it is imperative for an instructional designer to have the necessary design skill to produce a multimodal learning experience.

Relevant Resource

Kress & Van Leeuwen, “Multimodal Discourse” (Introduction) (2001)

De Anna L Fench
eduTech gEEk writer

Design & Development: Assessments

It has been a while….this, I know.

Work and school are keeping my schedule pretty saturated. Tons of instructional design work being completed in the process, therefore it is all worth it, right?

So, I must rant and rave for this posting.

Oh, I was so annoyed this week!

There is a reason why instructional design professionals recommend the designing of assessments before developing instructional materials (e.g. student and instructor guides, powerpoints, multimedia objects, etc.). Such practice keeps your instructional content in alignment with the course/lesson objectives.

This has been the case with my professional and academic experience.

Within this current project, our development schedule is as follows: content first, then revision of the practice activities and written assessment tests. Some of these items have been created before the writers arrived, but we are still there for a reason. It is hard to work in an environment where people are not trusting your experience as an ID. So, I am finding myself constantly going back into the primary instructional document and adding content based on new info from the assessments….Whew! A time consumer to say the least.

I know, I know. As IDs we have to adapt to constant change.

With every client there will be criteria outside the realm of our traditional ID or educational practices. This, I understand. Actually, I am all good with it. Conventions will not always have an appropriate place for every part of a project.

For all my IDs, trainers, educators, I recommend the design of instruction in this order:

1. Conduct an analysis
2. Establish your objectives based upon the analysis
3. Design assessments based on the objectives
4. Develop instructional materials based on the assessments

….simple, quite simple.

Need we send a mass e-mail to all those trying to be trainers?:-)

My New Content Development Job

Not much activity from me this week, huh?

The latest opportunity is a ~ 4 month contract content development position with Information Mapping, Inc. The Information Mapping method of organizing and presenting content is definitely one of the better forms of standardized writing. As far as my experience goes…

Most of my responsibilities will be technical writing and document design oriented. Of course….these two areas of designing instruction seem to follow me everywhere.

The funniest aspect of this job is the transformation of training documents from Word Perfect to MS Word!

Yes…I said “Word Perfect.”

I thought the industry was moving more toward Adobe FrameMaker for template-based document design needs. So to be working with Word Perfect is a true shocker. Nonetheless interesting. I guess these are the types of jobs that help grow you into a true instructional design/technical writing professional.

I think I even said in a previous post about how all my FrameMaker training wouldn’t even be considered for the next job. Boy, did I hit the nail on the head.

My SME—working with my Subject Matter Expert has also been pretty interesting. It has only been a week, but I already realize the benefits to developing a supportive relationship with good communication.

The project has had a rough start due to many external factors that pre-date the arrival of my team and I. But, you know that’s the nature of the game. Either way I am sooooo on board and ready to work.

My Primary Goal: to develop the best instructional documents with my SME that the new batch of students will find useful during their entire program.

All my years as a student should definitely have prepared me for this position.

De Anna L Fench
eduTech gEEk writer

Storyboards & eLearning (Pt. 3)

How detailed does a storyboard need to be so it is considered “sufficient”?

Any large-scale eLearning project may easily have several instructional designers in addition to programmers, graphic artists, photographers, animators, videographers and SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) (Leonard, 2004; Alessi & Trollip, 2001).

Both Kruse (n.d.) and Alessi and Trollip (2001) believe that in order for a storyboard to effectively guide the members of a team, it must (at a minimum) include the following:

• Project information (i.e. title, unit #, section #, etc.),
• Screen labels,
• Audio and narration information,
• Video clip descriptions,
• Graphic descriptions,
• The content to be included in the on-screen text,
• Navigation and interaction descriptions, and
• Notes related to the design choices (i.e. text style and size).

At what point in the design and development process do you think content, graphics & assessments should be developed?

Assessment items help to narrow content, therefore assessments should be developed after objectives have been defined and an instructional strategy has been planned. The objectives and strategy assist the designer in developing the most efficient assessment materials: students have a greater chance of mastering the learning objectives, while focusing on the planned content (Dick, Carey, & Carey, 2005).

Content development follows assessment development. After one has decided the learning objectives and developed assessments based off of those objectives, then writing and revising the content can begin. Assessments help a designer determine what primary and secondary textual content is best for the instructional phase (Alessi & Trollip, 2001).

Graphic artists (or whoever is in charge of the graphics on your team) develop graphics after the storyboard has been reviewed and signed-off. Since the instructional designer uses the storyboard to communicate the physical layout of the instructional content, then those in charge of developing graphics (or animations and other interactive, supplementary components) should become very knowledgeable of this document. To save on time and money the graphic artist may want to take a further step by having a one-on-one meeting with the lead instructional designer and/or project manager to affirm the details of the storyboard.

***Additional Storyboard Resources

Alessi, S.M. & Trollip, S.R. (2001). Multimedia for learning: methods and development (3^rd ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Dick, W., Carey, L., & Carey, J.O. (2005). The systematic design of instruction (6^th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Kruse, K. (n.d.). Creating scripts and storyboards for e-learning. Retrieved on May 19, 2007, from http://www.e-Learningguru.com/articles/art2_5.htm

Leonard, T. (2004, November 15). Creating and using storyboards. Retrieved on May 19, 2007, from http://www.devshed.com/c/a/Practices/Creating-and-Using-Storyboards/1/

De Anna L Fench
eduTech gEEk writer

Storyboards & eLearning (Pt. 2)

Quick Post: Typically, I use MS PowerPoint for creating my eLearning Storyboards. Here are a few examples of Storyboard Frame Templates in PowerPoint: storyboard_frame_template_examples

…Enjoy!

Storyboards & eLearning (Pt. 1)

What are eLearning Storyboards?

Storyboarding is a common technique used by instructional designers to visually represent each screen of an eLearning product, such as courseware or web instruction. According to Kruse (n.d.), it is a screen-by-screen example of what the learners will see, hear, and do during their interaction with the computer-mediated instruction.

The creator (usually the instructional designer or eLearning manager) uses a storyboard to facilitate communication between team members of an instructional design project (Leonard, 2004; Alessi & Trollip, 2001).

Why should a storyboard not include transitions, hyperlinks or animations?

A storyboard should not include these elements for two main reasons:

1. Including these elements can lead to unnecessary crowding, and
2. Some of these elements are created by those team members (i.e. graphic artists, programmers, animators, etc.) who need to have viewed the storyboard before any multimedia elements can be developed.

Crowding: If the purpose of a storyboard is to give a screen-by-screen account of the instructional layout, then transitions, hyperlinks and animations will only crowd an already detailed presentation. Although they are informative and detailed, storyboards should not be over-saturated with information (Alessi & Trollip, 2001). In fact, the Notes Section of a storyboard is best for brief multimedia details.

Need for viewing the storyboard before designing: As for the second reason, an instructional designer is typically not the person who creates such interactive elements. These roles are assigned to team members such as the animator (or graphics artist) and programmer respectively. Until such members view the storyboard, interactive elements can not be created.

***Additional Storyboard Resources

• Alessi, S.M. & Trollip, S.R. (2001). Multimedia for learning: methods and development (3^rd ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

• Kruse, K. (n.d.). Creating scripts and storyboards for e-learning. http://www.e-Learningguru.com/articles/art2_5.htm

• Leonard, T. (2004, November 15). Creating and using storyboards. http://www.devshed.com/c/a/Practices/Creating-and-Using-Storyboards/1/

De Anna L Fench
eduTech gEEk writer

Adobe Technical Communications Suite = Sweeeeeeeeet!

“They’ve done it again!” Adobe’s Technical Communications Suite is just that, Sweeeeeeeeet!

Finally!!! I am so proud of them for actually recognizing the needs of the eLearning and Instructional Design communities. I simply think it is “hott” idea that couldn’t have come any sooner. Some of the most effective software programs I have used for instructional design and learning media are included:

• Adobe FrameMaker8: for all our technical document publishing needs (You already know how I feel about FM8.)
• Adobe Captivate 3: for creating some of the hottest & interactive (Flash-based) courses, presentations and assessments
• Adobe Acrobat 3D: Okay, Pause! I have yet to use 3D because I do not need do much collaboration on engineering and architectural type of projects (i.e. those where I have to view ‘all sides’ of an object…Urgh! Blah!). Still, it’s a niiiiiice product for those who need the whole “3D Collabo”
• Adobe RoboHelp 7: for the creation of help systems. I have used this product once before during the development of a mock Computer-Based Training (CBT) Learning Program. But, from what I recall, it is also really helpful for any designer or new media artist who has difficulty relinquishing all control over to IT.

Applause.

De Anna L Fench
eduTech gEEk writer